February 29, 2004, Happy Sadie Hawkins Day
Yessirree... a 29 February-- a once every four year event just like... a Presidential election, though 29 February has the fact that its only one day to recommend it. And what a day; in NYC, the remaining Democratic candidates will debate this morning, and Senator Edwards will appear later today here in Brooklyn (1:00 pm at the LIU campus, I believe). Super Tuesday arrives in two days, and presumably, Senator Kerry will sew up the nomination by then.
Meanwhile, across the water, Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has evidently fled Haiti. It was considered one of the "successes" of the Clinton Administration to have restored Aristide to power after he was removed by a coup. He was "re-elected" in 2000 in an election many considered fraudulent (2000 was a big year for that). I should also note other foreign policy successes of the Clinton Administration, or, of course, its own talking up of Saddam Hussein's WMD capacity (that Mother Jones link via Unqualified Offerings). Well, Haiti is now in chaos, a "multi-national force", probably led by American and French troops, will soon arrive to restore order. Iraq, of course, is... in chaos, a multi-national force is already there. Kosovo is basically a criminal enterprise with... a multi-national force there.
In short, there is a point to be made that the Bush Administration fiascos in the foreign policy realm are not all that different from the Clinton Administration fiascos. And maybe there's something to that: both Clinton and Bush regarded foreign policy as something that could be manipulated for personal purposes-- in Clinton's case, frequently to deflect attention from sex scandals (please, fellow liberals, don't deny that too), and in Bush's case, sometimes to deflect attention from a flagging economy, or worse, to right family wrongs or to benefit oil business cronies (my conservative friends, please don't you deny that).
In short, given how badly American foreign policy seems to have been conducted since the Cold War ended (and we'll include the insane Gulf War I), one wonders if perhaps my favorite blogger may not have a point that we'd just be better off with minimal intervention abroad. Who knows? In the "government of laws, and not of men", the foreign policy arena seems a tad too dependent on the men. The Constitution tried to put war powers in the hands of Congress, but in practical terms, especially when the President's own parties controls one or both Houses of Congress, the President has almost unchecked power in the foreign policy realm, including the commission of American troops into harm's way.
I do know that had either of the better men that George W. Bush stole the 2000 election from (the sainted John McCain or the sainted Al Gore) obtained the presidency, at least foreign policy would be more likely conducted for the right reasons, and by people more competent to conduct it (as opposed to by (1) evil incarnate (GHWB), (2) libido incarnate (WJC), or (3) incompetence incarnate (GWB)). We just may never get to know if, perhaps, American intervention around the globe is just doomed to fuck up. This is one area in which I might certainly find Senator Kerry a more comforting hand on the rudder of state than our current captain, for example, assuming he can wrest the presidency from him.
One wonders if in the post-Cold War world, where the Republicans at least have a policy (preemption and the aggressive imposition of democracy and freedom from abroad by force), albeit one which just happens to be (so far) wrong and insane in practice, whereas by contrast the Democrats just have ad hoc theories about "international cooperation", maybe running effective foreign policy from here on in will just be a matter of damage control-- the least harmful options-- because we really can't do too much good in the world, and should just be concerned with defending ourselves. (Wow-- that was one sentence?) Don't know; but I DO know that these are precisely the kind of questions that will NOT be asked during the election cycle.
So, on this day that comes only once every four years, let's all try pondering all that...
Comments
For a detailed analysis of the Haitian crisis and its implications to US presidential politics, please look at the essay "Haiti: malign neglect" on my blog:
http://worldonfire.typepad.com/world_on_fire/
Posted by rickfman at February 29, 2004 04:36 PM
Wow TD, we think that was the most cogent, reasoned, and insightful entry to date. It's like you have more time on your hands or something.
Posted by Pal and Drone at February 29, 2004 10:22 PM
Incredible. A reasoned and unbiased assessment of the foreign policies of the recent administrations. From a Genuine Liberal. I suppose we'll have to wait for next Sadie Hawkins Day for that to happen again.
Posted by Dick Dastardly at March 1, 2004 11:37 AM
The Mother Jones article you linked to and your comment about Clinton using foreign policy to advance personal goals intersect in an interesting way. The Mother Jones article suggests that Clinton knew by 1995 or so that Iraq had destroyed all of its chemical and biological weapons stocks. If that is so (and I don't think the author has proved it), it would lend even greater credence to the wag the dog allegations regarding the four-day air strikes against Iraq that Clinton launched just before the impeachment vote in the House in December 1998.
On another subject, you said in a post of a couple of weeks ago that you regarded Carter and Ford as good men, but ineffectual presidents. You also regarded Reagan as a good man and effectual, in the sense of promoting his agenda. I agreed with those views, and I would also agree that LBJ was effectual in this sense (at least as regards his domestic agenda, where he engineered a kind of revolution in civil rights and social welfare policies). But I was surprised to read that you regarded LBJ as a good man. Have you read volume 1 of Caro's biography? This is a man who orchestrated election fraud in his Senate race, who would get physical (grabbing by the lapels, etc.) with legislators in his own party who were no doing his bidding, and so on. What gives?
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